Review: Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

Title: Go Ask Alice
Author: Anonymous, produced by Beatrice Sparks
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publish Date: September 14, 1971
Genre: YA
Pages: 211
*Read for book club.

Synopsis:
The torture and hell of adolescence has rarely been captured as clearly as it is in this classic diary by an anonymous, addicted teen. Lonely, awkward, and under extreme pressure from her "perfect" parents, "Anonymous" swings madly between optimism and despair. When one of her new friends spikes her drink with LSD, this diarist begins a frightening journey into darkness. The drugs take the edge off her loneliness and self-hate, but they also turn her life into a nightmare of exalting highs and excruciating lows.

Although there is still some question as to whether this diary is real or fictional, there is no question that it has made a profound impact on millions of readers during the more than 25 years it has been in print. Despite a few dated references to hippies and some expired slang, Go Ask Alice still offers a jolting chronicle of a teenager's life spinning out of control.

From Goodreads

This book really was an eye-opener about the roller coaster that is the world of drugs. The closest I’ve come to illegal drugs is stories from friends. I’m a person who really disapproves of doing drugs, including smoking cigarettes, because of the negative health effects. For someone like me, this book gave me the opportunity to see drugs through the eyes of someone who literally lived through the addiction... To see the other side of the story. Like I said, it was an eye-opener.

I think I forgot what teens can be like: when they like someone, that person is their true love; they change their minds about things every other day; they think their parents are out to ruin their lives; and so on. The diarist was all of these things, and sometimes it irritated me, but then I’d remember that this was a real person’s life and this was how she truly felt when she was writing. Being empathetic to the diarist really helped when reading this story. It was almost a requirement. I feel like it would have been wrong to judge the diarist. That would be like judging the life of someone who lives on the streets in your city. It’s just wrong.

It was really great to see the family relationship change. She started out thinking her parents were unloving and dismissive, but as the book progressed she began to realize that they really only wanted her to be safe and actually loved her very much. She also had a great relationship with her grandfather, but I’ll let you discover that one on your own. The relationship between her and her brother was great as well. After having gone through all the drugs and problems she did, she just wanted to be able to protect her siblings. Since her brother was much closer to her in age than her sister, she was most concerned about him following her same path. She wanted to make sure he was sheltered from the life of drugs, but was afraid to tell him of all her experiences, for fear that he’d think poorly of her.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was relatively quick to read because it’s journal entries, and I always find that those make the book fly by. It was shocking to read, especially when I would remember that it wasn’t fiction, and that this girl really lived what she wrote, when she was only 15. It’s not a book for those who are iffy about drugs and sex in what they read, but it’s definitely something I’d recommend to anyone who’s even thought of picking it up. Do it.

On My Wishlist (12)

On My Wishlist is a fun weekly event hosted by Book Chick City and runs every Saturday. It's where you list all the books you desperately want but haven't actually bought yet. They can be old, new or forthcoming. It's also an event that you can join in with too - Mr Linky is always at the ready for you to link your own 'On My Wishlist' post. If you want to know more click here.

On My Wishlist this week:
Ape House by Sara Gruen
Publish Date: September 17, 2010

Synopsis:
Sam, Bonzi, Lola, Mbongo, Jelani, and Makena are no ordinary apes. These bonobos, like others of their species, are capable of reason and carrying on deep relationships—but unlike most bonobos, they also know American Sign Language.

Isabel Duncan, a scientist at the Great Ape Language Lab, doesn’t understand people, but animals she gets—especially the bonobos. Isabel feels more comfortable in their world than she’s ever felt among humans . . . until she meets John Thigpen, a very married reporter who braves the ever-present animal rights protesters outside the lab to see what’s really going on inside.

When an explosion rocks the lab, severely injuring Isabel and “liberating” the apes, John’s human interest piece turns into the story of a lifetime, one he’ll risk his career and his marriage to follow. Then a reality TV show featuring the missing apes debuts under mysterious circumstances, and it immediately becomes the biggest—and unlikeliest—phenomenon in the history of modern media. Millions of fans are glued to their screens watching the apes order greasy take-out, have generous amounts of sex, and sign for Isabel to come get them. Now, to save her family of apes from this parody of human life, Isabel must connect with her own kind, including John, a green-haired vegan, and a retired porn star with her own agenda.

Ape House delivers great entertainment, but it also opens the animal world to us in ways few novels have done, securing Sara Gruen’s place as a master storyteller who allows us to see ourselves as we never have before.

From Random House Canada

I have to admit that I want to read this purely because I read and loved WATER FOR ELEPHANTS. It really was a super book. I hope that this one is just as good! It definitely sounds like an awesome book. I'm excited to read it.

Check it out on Goodreads here.

What's on your wishlist this week?

Teaser Tuesday (20)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should be Reading. Just do the following:

Grab your current read

Open to a random page

Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page

DO NOT INCLUDE SPOILERS (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away, so that you don't ruin the book for others)

Share the title and author so that other participants can add the book to their TBR list is they like your teasers!

I'm just about to start reading Go Ask Alice, the real diary of a 15-year-old drug user, for the summer book club my friends and I are doing. I found a great teaser from the first page:

Yesterday I bought this diary because I thought at last I'd have something wonderful and great and worthwhile to say, something so personal that I wouldn't be able to share it with another living person, only myself. Now like everything else in my life, it has become so much nothing.




I'm excited to read this. It'll be weird realizing that everything I'm reading ACTUALLY happened in this girl's life. I don't know what I'm expecting, but I feel like it'll be hard to believe sometimes. I guess it'll just be proof that some people go through really tough stuff. I can't wait to get started.

Feel free to share your teasers with me! I'd love to see what you're reading.

In My Mailbox (18)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme that gives bloggers a chance to share what books they've received in the last week. It's hosted by The Story Siren and you can find out more info about it here.




This week I got a lot of ebooks for review. I had been neglecting review requests while I finished school and got settled into being at home again. So when I finally replied to them, I got some interesting books to review! Check out what I got:

For Review
Acadia, Book I: The Lost King and the Goddess of Time by Ali Naqvi {Goodreads}
Daimon (Prequel to Half-Blood) by Jennifer L. Armentrout {Goodreads}
Inklings by Aparna Warrier {Goodreads}
Laney: The Brookehaven Vampires by Joann Martin Sowles {Goodreads}
Six Moon Summer by S.M. Reine {Goodreads}
All ebooks received from author except DAIMON (received through publisher).

Some of these are new genres for me (like INKLINGS, which is flash fiction), some are my genre, but more adult, and some are exactly what I love to read. I've already read and reviewed INKLINGS by Aparna Warrier. Check out my review here. I'm excited to jump into the others, too.

What did you get this week?

Review: Inklings by Aparna Warrier

Title: Inklings: Very Short Stories and Other Babies Born of Ink
Author: Aparna Warrier
Publisher: Indie on Smashwords
Publish Date: April 23, 2011
Genre: adult, flash fiction
Pages: 9 (ebook)
Source: From author through Smashwords

Synopsis:
Very short stories and other babies born of Ink.

Stories tagged under urban life, oblique humor, romance, satire and even the purpose of life. In this book, you will find urban-style, simple prose, sprinkled with thought-provoking metaphors along the way.

Inklings offers a glimpse into the world of intelligent flash fiction, which, while not a popular genre in traditional publishing, is making an impact in online literature.

For an idea of what to expect, an introduction of five of the twelve stories in this anthology follows
1. Intoxicated by Impossibility - The story of one guy who can't fall asleep because of one girl who's not even there. Or is she?
2. Who wrote the Rules? - Existential angst clubbed with rebellion against The System.
3. The revolt of the coconut trees - Inspired by an academic study published in the Journal of Trauma, 1984, titled "Injuries due to falling coconuts".
4. So what? - What happens after the Storm.
5. Cheeky - A story about that chubby part of a certain person's face.

From Goodreads

This was the first flash fiction that I’ve read. It was an interesting collection of works. Some of them were cute, others funny, and some I just outright didn’t understand. I’ve never been the kind of reader who analyzes what she’s reading, or enjoys picking things apart to see what kind of double meaning there may be that the author was implying. I just like to read and enjoy. So it’s for that reason, I think, that some of the stories either bored me or just went flying over my head.

There were a couple that I liked. Greenie and Cheeky were both cute. I found The Revolt of Coconut Trees to be funny, too. It’s about coconut trees who are willing to be cooperative with humans until humans start abusing them and taking advantage of them. So they attack and wipe out the human race. I suppose I shouldn’t find it funny, but the thought of coconut trees attacking and wiping out the human race makes me laugh.

Overall, I thought these stories were cute, and a great starting place for a new author. However, I don’t really think they were for me. It was probably just a personality conflict between me and the author, considering she “likes books that make her think deep,” which I totally do not. Still, it’s a quick read (just 9 ebook pages), so check it out on Smashwords if you’re interested.

Thanks to Aparna Warrier for the review copy through Smashwords.

FOREVER Trailer!

I love Maggie Stiefvater's Wolves of Mercy Falls Trilogy. And so I'm super excited that the last book is due out in two months today!! (July 12!) In typical Maggie fashion, she's having a super ginormous contest to spread the news about her book, and her newly released book trailer for it (which she spent TONS of time making). Check it out:

If you've never read any of the Wolves of Mercy Falls Trilogy, I recommend you check them out. Maggie made super awesome book trailers for the first two as well. Check out the one for Shiver here and the one for Linger here. The great thing about these trailers is that they aren't spoilery. So if you haven't read the previous books, you can still watch away! They're pretty vague, so those of us who HAVE read the books just end up with our heads spinning, trying to figure out what it all means!

So if you're as excited as me, you will definitely want to hop on over to Maggie's favourite Indie, Fountain Bookstore, and preorder a signed copy.

For more information about Maggie Stiefvater and her books, visit her website here.

If you're one of those who haven't started the series yet, run on over to The Book Depository and snag yourself a copy of the first two books!

Waiting on Wednesday (24)

"Waiting on" Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that showcases upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating!
I first heard about it from PageTurnersBlog.




My Waiting on Wednesday this week:
Ladybird Ladybird by Abra Ebner
Publish Date: June 1, 2011

Synopsis:
Samantha was born on a full moon to a mother already dead. Revived by doctors and given to her unloving father, Samantha was raised a cursed child, her only friend the ghost of her mother who speaks to her through keys. From the inside out, Sam burned with life, a fire so vivid it kept her peers at a distance, all except one. Leith, a quiet farmboy with a broken heart and demons of his own, enjoys the seclusion his classmates grant him, but the seclusion is all too familiar to Sam.

When their worlds collide... fires burn.

From Goodreads

This a little novella, about 225 pages, and sounds like a fun, quick read. I haven't read any of Abra's books before, but her Knight Angels series really interests me. I want to read LADYBIRD, LADYBIRD because I'm really curious about the title. We don't really get any clues in the synopsis, and I'm interested to see why it has this title, and why it had to be said twice!

What upcoming releases are you looking forward to this week?

Teaser Tuesday (19)

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly meme, hosted by MizB of Should be Reading. Just do the following:

Grab your current read

Open to a random page

Share two "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page

DO NOT INCLUDE SPOILERS (make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away, so that you don't ruin the book for others)

Share the title and author so that other participants can add the book to their TBR list is they like your teasers!

I didn’t have a chance to give you a teaser from what I was reading last week, so here’s a teaser from City of Glass by Cassandra Clare. I tried to avoid spoilers from any of The Mortal Instruments books, so that everyone can read my teaser! Here it is:

“Simon, move!” It was Jace shouting; Simon looked and saw the other boy running toward him out of the fog, bloody seraph blades in his hands. Then he looked up.





Hehehe I gave you a cliff-hanger this week! I’m barely finding any time to read, and when I do, I’m partially falling asleep. Still, I’m really enjoying City of Glass. I like that it’s a different setting than the last two books, so hopefully it will be a fun adventure for everyone (both me and the characters)!

Feel free to share your teasers in the comments! I’d love to see what you’re reading.